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תקנות פון בלאג: יעדער קען שרייבען תגובות, אבער נישט קיין ניבול פה, באליידיגען אדער סטראשענען, ווער עס וועט נישט איינהאלטען די תקנות וועט מען חוסם זיין..Rules of the Blog: Everybody is welcome to write comments, however no vulgar language, insults or threats will be tolerated, you will be banned immediatelyDo NOT keep changing your Nick when writing comments, I can recognize you and will ban youIf you are aware of any molestation in the Jewish community, please report it to the proper authorities, and then please send us an emil with as many details as possible, so we can follow up and warn the TziburThis Blog is here for a purpose - to fight pedophilia and znus, not for snide remarks, filthy comments or threats

7/09/2013

Brooklyn prosecutors had been
scheduled on Monday to open the trial of an Orthodox Jew charged with paying a
child to falsely testify that he was a victim of sexual abuse.

But in a dramatic reversal, they
told the trial judge that their key witness was no longer trustworthy,
indicating the potential collapse of a controversial case that highlighted the
complicated relationship between District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and the
politically influential Orthodox community.

The case against the defendant, Sam
Kellner, has been unusual from the start. Mr. Kellner had accused a prominent
Hasidic cantor, Baruch Lebovits, of molesting his son, and Mr. Kellner helped
the district attorney’s office identify other victims, leading to Mr. Lebovits’s
conviction in March 2010.

But four months later, one victim
who testified against Mr. Lebovits before a grand jury told prosecutors that he
had testified only because Mr. Kellner paid him $10,000. Prosecutors turned
around and won the indictment of Mr. Kellner, using the original accuser, now
an adult, as their key witness in the new case. Mr. Kellner was also charged
with trying to extort $400,000 from the Lebovits family to keep other children
from making accusations.

The filing of charges against Mr.
Kellner prompted criticism from advocates for victims of sexual abuse who
viewed him as a whistle-blower. It also undermined the conviction of Mr.
Lebovits, which had been a high-profile achievement of the district attorney’s
campaign to persuade members of the insular Hasidic community to cooperate with
authorities in such cases.

Mr. Lebovits’s lawyers used the
Kellner prosecution and other issues to have the conviction overturned. Mr.
Lebovits had already served one year of a minimum 10-year sentence.

In State Supreme Court in Brooklyn
on Monday, prosecutors told the judge, Ann M. Donnelly, that they learned a
couple of weeks ago that their witness had made the accusations against Mr.
Kellner after accepting financial assistance from Mr. Lebovits’s supporters.
That money went to paying for his lawyer; his travel to and from Israel, where
he is a student; his apartment; and his school fees.